This invention relates to a dough forming machine, and in particular to a bagel dividing and forming machine which forms circular rolls such as bagels. The invention provides an improvement to such machines.
Machines for dividing and forming bagels are known. In such a known machine, a motor driven circulating looped belt is provided with a horizontal top surface. The belt is wrapped around an idler drum and a drive drum. At a first end of the machine, a pressure plate having a downward arcuate surface toward the belt is provided slightly elevated from the top surface of the belt. A dough guide plate is provided upstream of the pressure plate. When an incremental amount of dough is placed onto the belt, the belt carries the dough beneath the pressure plate which causes the incremental amount to roll and elongate into a solid cylinder shape. At approximately the mid-span of the top surface of the belt is arranged a forming tube having an inside diameter approximating the outside diameter of the desired bagel shape. The forming tube has a V-shaped cut-out at a top side thereof. A mandrel with an outside diameter approximating the diameter of the central hole of the bagel is mounted axially through the forming tube.
The lateral edges of the belt are wrapped upward into a circular shape corresponding to the inside diameter of the forming tube, guided into the forming tube by the V-shaped notch, the belt passing through the forming tube while in the circular shape and once exiting the forming tube, the belt flattens back down into a flat horizontal profile. Before returning to the first end of the assembly, the belt extends above a rotary table for receiving the finished product which drops off the belt. The rotary table could also be a further belt or other product receiving station.
The forming tube typically comprises two half circular sections with a seam located on a top side of the tube. The tube also provides a V-shaped notch at the top at the upstream axial end thereof. The V-shaped notch guides the lateral edges into the circular shape to pass into the forming tube.
It has been a problem in the prior art that the length of the solid cylinder dough piece arriving at the forming tube within the wrapped belt exceeds a width of the belt. As the lateral edges of the belt are brought together, as the belt proceeds into the tube, the excess length of dough can extend beyond the edges of the belt and be pinched off outside of the belt. This may cause the dough to foul the seam between the two circular sections of the tube. Excess dough can also actually be drawn onto an underside of the belt between the belt and the forming tube which presents a clogging problem as well as an overall machine tidiness problem as the dough proceeding on the underside of the belt can foul the idler drum and the drive drum for the belt.
It is known to fixedly fasten an arcuate shield piece to partially cover a central area of the V-shaped notch and to guide excess dough into the circle formed by the belt wrapped into the tube. However, such a shield piece has been fixed to the mandrel, not allowing quick change out or position adjustment.